A Day In The Life With Sarah Rousseau
Excerpts from Sarah J. Rousseau’s wagon train diary.
November 13, 1864 (near Beaver Creek, NV)
Sunday
Went on to the Virgin River, and crossed eighteen times, the road is very rough. … The poor horses [Charlie, Flit, and Fan] almost gave out going over such bad roads.
November 16, 1864
Wednesday
…Now ready to ascend the Virgin hill. … I looked up and thought it was an utter impossibility for any animal to get up. … Started up that awful mountain with our mare and Mr. Hamilton’s horses, but the poor things couldn’t make it.
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November 26, 1864
Friday
…One of the mares gave out, Fan, had to put another on.
November 28, 1864
Sunday
At last the two grey mares in the carriage gave out. Couldn’t go any farther.
December 3, 1864 (Sierra Nevada Mountains, CA)
Saturday
We went on until within 2 ½ miles of Salt Springs, when our poor jaded horses stopped, couldn’t go any farther. Oh, how I pitied them.
December 5, 1864 (near Amargosa Mine)
Monday
… The horse we call Charlie, when he was taken out of the wagon, staggered and would have fallen had not a young man that was with us taken hold of him and steadied him.
December 6, 1864
Tuesday
We gave the poor things their last feed of barely. Oh, how my heart aches to see them, they look like skeletons and so pitiful begging something to eat. They try to eat the dry brush or anything they can get ahold of. We had to let the poor little boys go with Mack and the horses to Bitter Springs where there may be some grass that may save the poor things from starving to death. …
December 9, 1864
Friday
…Passed by poor Fan. She was pretty much eat up with the wolves. Went on to Bitter Springs, where we saw poor Flit down and couldn’t get up. The Dr. tried to raise her, but she fell down on her mouth. … Oh how bad I felt for the poor things to think what a hard summer they had and then to starve to death. We did not know that Charlie would meet the same fate.
Meet the Characters: Charlie, Fan, and Flit
In seven months, the Rousseau family traveled nearly 2,000 miles from Pella, Iowa to San Bernardino, California with two vehicles: one “large,” heavily-loaded wagon and a four-horse team driven by Nicholas Earp (or possibly one of his sons), and one “carriage,” driven by up to four gray horses, lovingly named as if family pets. The wagon horses, in contrast, are unnamed and nondescript.
Charlie, Fan, Flit, “Albert’s Filly” and “John’s Mare” were likely an Arabian breed, chosen for their beautiful greying coats and easy temperament towards humans. The stallion, Charlie, was probably Dr. James Rousseau’s personal transport for his mail route in Iowa. He suffers from sore feet along the trail and is doted on by the defacto veterinarian. On the trip, the wagon train’s stock fights colic, drinks from the “poison” (alkali) water holes, and drops dead for no apparent reason.
Towards the end of the grueling trip, the horses faced a long stretch of trail crossing two sections of the Mohave Desert, with a steep and slippery sandstone mountain climb at the Valley of Fire, followed by an even steeper climb up the snow-dusted Sierra Nevadas.
In Cpt. Randolph Macy’s 1859 guidebook, The Prairie Traveler, he warns readers about the dangers of tiring animals with: “Grass and water are abundant and good upon the eastern portions of all the different overland routes; animals should not, therefore, with proper care, fall away in the least before reaching the mountains, as west of them are long stretches where grass and water are scarce, and it requires the full amount of strength and vigor of animals in good condition to endure the fatigues and hard labor attendant upon the passage of these deserts.” In the end, the lack of food and water and insufficient rest between difficult pulls would claim the horses’ lives and grieve the diarist who clearly adored her animals.
More on Arabian Horses in 19th Century America: https://www.arabianhorses.org/
Lesson plan and easy FAQs on Arabians from the Arabian Horse Association: https://www.arabianhorses.org/export/content.export/youth-docs/AHYA_LegUp_Breed_History.pdf
Researcher Comments
An Awkward Sight: Diarist, Mrs. Sarah Rousseau, was confined to a wheelchair due to severe rheumatism. With limited mobility and constant pains, she would have been unable to walk alongside a wagon, ride a horse, or even endure the jarring wooden bench seat of the prairie schooner. For the upper-class Victorian Londoner, her luxurious, convertible street carriage was the most comfortable option. Though the Landau was highly impractical and significantly damaged by trail and weather conditions, the suspension system offered her a modicum of comfort over rough roads.
The daguerreotype (below) shows a couple in a single-sided, convertible, but the Rousseau’s carriage would have had an additional bench and rear-facing hood which could enclose the majority of the cart. Depending on how many passengers sought respite onboard, the carriage could be pulled by either two or four horses. Before the end of the trip, they modified the vehicle’s wheels to be smaller, lowering the overall cart height to reduce the risk of an upset while traversing more difficult terrain.
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Excerpts come from Across the Plains by Sarah Jane Rousseau, 1864. Interpretative material by Janelle Molony, family researcher and author of the creative narrative based on the Pella Company, From Where I Sat. The original Diary covers May 13, 1864, to December 18, 1864, and includes locations from Pella, Iowa to San Bernardino, California. (NOT available for public resale or distribution.)
Author Byline
Janelle Molony is the g-g-g-granddaughter of Dr. James and Sarah Rousseau and current family historian. With the cooperation of other descendants, Molony is authoring a novel based on the 1864 wagon train.
For questions, or to interview the historian regarding the novel project, please Contact Me.
Special thanks to the Pella Historical Society (https://www.pellahistorical.org/) and San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society (http://www.sbhistoricalsociety.com/) for your cooperation and support!